DeRosa, Pegoretti, Zullo, Columbus at NAHBS

Has the renaissance of steel begun? There were 7,500 visitors to the 2009 North American Handmade Bicycle Show, in Indianapolis, February 27th through March 1st to see beautiful craftsmanship.

Steel is the preferred material for builders displaying at NAHBS. Steel's popularity is on the rise as demonstrated by increases in demand reported by Columbus and Reynolds. In fact, Columbus is re-introducing "SL", and Reynolds their "531".

A few Italians made the journey to Indianapolis including DeRosa, Zullo, Pegoretti (not present but whose grafitti bikes were displayed in the Brooks booth), and Columbus (photos above).

The "Best" awards went to:
Best Lugged Bicycle : Ellis Cycles - Dave Wages
Best Fillet Brazed Bicycle : Nobilette Cycles - Mark Nobilette
Best TIG Welded Bicycle : Strong Frames Inc - Carl Strong
Best Paint Job : VéloColour - Noel Rosen
Best Carbon Fiber Bicycle : Independent Fabrication
Best Titanium Bicycle : Eriksen Cycles - Kent Eriksen
Best Road Bicycle : Della Santa - Roland Della Santa
Best Track Bicycle : Cherubim by Konno Cycleworks - Shin-ichi Konno
Best Off-Road Bicycle : Goodrich Bicycles - Curt Goodrich
Best Tandem : Bilenky Cycle Works - Stephen Bilenky
Best City Bicycle : MAP Bicycles - Mitchell Pryor
President Walker's Choice : Cherubim by Konno Cycleworks - Shin-ichi Konno
People's Choice : Naked Cycles and Design - Sam Whittingham
Best of Show : Cicli Polito - Dan Polito

The website for the event is: http://www.handmadebicycleshow.com/

Excelent photos of the bikes on display can be seen at:

by Steve Kurt of Velo Orange: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtsj00/sets/72157614498379909

by Dale Brown of Cycles de Oro:

http://cyclesdeoro.com/events/NAHBS/2009/index.html

Stories for the Italian Cycling Journal welcome; contact veronaman@gmail.com